METHODOLOGY
To do justice to the big evaluative issue of the impact of the Korean development experience on its diplomacy in Africa one would have to develop a cross-country survey of African nations on policy makers at various levels and administrators. The cross-country study is too difficult to carry out in a limited time frame and resources, as a result of these limitations; I decided to engage in an exploratory field interview among the resident African diplomats in Seoul using narrative theory approach.
Narrative Theory
A story may do more than just narrate events; stories can narrates events in such a way that makes them comprehensible, there-by conveying not just information but also rendering them intelligible. Therefore, narrative in this context may be described as a type of explanation.20 For instance, when a murder suspect is invited by the police to "tell his story," the police are asking the suspect to give an explanation of where he was when the crime was committed and the blood on his cloths. Irrespective of what happen the suspect will be judged base on how best he is able to “tell his story” depending on the adequacy of his explanation21.
The explanatory power of narrative accounted for the models of explanation obtained in the philosophy of science. For instance, historians question the understanding that narrative or story-telling convey when such events are considered from the general perspective of other disciplines like sociology, economics and political science. Clinical psychologists need to know whether an
20Peter B. Reading for the Plot: Design and Intention in Narrative (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1984),
21Velleman, J.D. Narrative Explaination. The Philosophical Review, Vol 112, No.1 (Jan., 2003), pp1-25, Duke University Press.
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indicative action a life-story enhances the understanding acquired by fitting such behavior into diagnostic categories. From the above illustration the police or the judges sometimes inquire to know what sort of explanatory value there is in an accuser giving his explanation or defense in the form of narrative or a story22.
From the foregoing the question of how storytelling conveys understanding is inseparable from the question of what makes for a good story. Of course, a good story can be good in many accidental respects, ranging from the sophistication of its expression to the personal attractions of its characters. According to J. David “what makes a story good specifically as a story [is] what makes it a good example of storytelling or narrative is its excellence at a particular way of organizing events into an intelligible whole”23
Indeed it is possible to talk about narrative across human science. For instance, in economics, psychology, sociology, political science and even management theory, there has been a significant embrace of narrative as a fundamental research tool. For example nothing would be left of Essence of Decision: Explaining the Cuban Missile Crises by Allison without narratives.
The same apply to The Twenty Year’s Crisis of E. H. Carr and Politics of Nations written by Hans Morgenthau.
8.1 Diplomats as Storytellers
Narrative theory has generated a host of competing definitions. According to Geoffrey Robert the most prominent especially among diplomats and international historians is “it is simply the practice of telling stories about connected sequence of human action. The aim of this story
22Ibid
23J.DavidVellamanNarrativeExplanation.The Philosophical Review, Vol. 112, No. 1 (Jan., 2003), pp. 1-25,Duke university press
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telling is not only to explain the action in question but to enhance and extend understanding, comprehension and experience.”24
Senehi described narratives or storytelling as “language encompassing vocabulary, grammar rules, norms of communicative behavior, and narrative forms of language is society’s most complex symbolic system.25 As such, language encodes the culture of a particular community, including shared understandings of identity, power, history, values, and utopian visions. It may simply and sufficiently be defined as “someone telling someone else that something happened”
according to Smith”26.
According to Schwartz, “citizen-diplomats are coming together across profound divides to understand social conflicts through interpersonal conversations whether in the context of conference, public conversations, dialogue, negotiations, or other encounters. 27 Such interventions involve personal storytelling and inevitably become a process of collaboratively developing mutual recognition and social knowledge” Harold Saunders argues that the Israeli-Palestinian peace process of 1993 would not have been possible without narratives or stories from diplomats directed at addressing conflict issues as well as everyday intergroup interactions involving “countless Israelis and Palestinians” over the preceding 20 years.28 Hale revealed that
“throughout history, storytellers have often served as ambassadors and diplomats.”29
24Geoffrey Robert, History, theory and the narrative turn in international relation, Review of international studies(2006), 32,703-714, British international studies association
25Jessica Senehi“Constructive Storytelling: A Peace Process” A Journal of The Network of Peace and Conflict Studies (2002) Volume 9, Number 2
26Smith, Barbara Herrnstein. 1981. “Narrative Version, Narrative Theories.” In W.J.T. Mitchell, ed., On Narrative. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
27Schwartz, Richard D. 1989. “Arab-Jewish Dialogue in the United States.”In Louis Kriesberg, Terrell A. Northrup, and Stuart J. Thorson, eds., Intractable Conflicts and Their Transformation. Syracuse, N.Y.: Syracuse University Press.
28Saunders, Harold H. 1999. A Public Peace Process: Sustained Dialogue to Transform Social and Ethnic Conflicts. New York: St. Martin’s Press
29Hale, Thomas A. 1998. Griots and Griottes: Masters of Words and Music. Bloomington: Indiana
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8.2 Diplomats as Policy Makers
As Nicolson puts it, the role of diplomats has often been confused with that of policy making and foreign policy.30 Though the role of policy making rest largely on the political leadership, the role of the diplomat in the policy making process cannot be underestimated. According to Rossow
“The principal contribution of the diplomat to the policy process comes from his skills in interpretation between cultures. He utilizes this skill in two directions. He interprets and appraises for his clients situations and development in foreign cultural contexts, and he also acts as the advocate of his client in pursuing the latter’s policy goals abroad”.31
Rossow explains that as a policy maker, the diplomat requires more than just straight-forward intelligence which is evidenced-based, situational and subject to direct and indirect observation.
The special skill of the diplomat in cross-cultural analysis equips him/her to make accurate and reliable evaluation of policy goals and objectives. Often policy makers rely on this unique skill of the diplomat during the decision making process.
Beyond his basic function as an advocate and cross cultural interpreter, the diplomat performs even more critical functions such as monitoring the policy making process and inform policy makers of its progress. Again the diplomat plays an advisory role to the policy makers at the early stages of policy formulation, alerting them of the necessary conditions required for successful implementation of policy options to enable policy maker make informed policy choices.
30Nicolson. H, (1950), “Diplomacy”, London, Oxford University Press.
31Rossow,R “The Professionalization of the New Diplomacy” World Politics, Vol. 14, No. 4 (Jul., 1962), pp. 561-575,The Johns Hopkins University Press
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